Second Chance
by Rubedo the Crystal Blood
Summary: Sakura is aching for the loving Naruto won't give her. Is Lee a piece in her chess game for Naruto's attention, or will she really fall in love? Find out in the second installment of the "Another Chance" series, and look out for the others.
1. Allusion to Illusion

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warning**: The following may contain material that some viewers may not find suitable.

* * *

_Revelation One...  
Allusion to Illusion..._

* * *

"Mmph! Mhmm...! Ngm! Mmm!" Droplets of condensations rolled down her hot, red skin. Tears of passion bubbled up from within her. Her partner's muffled grunts were arousing. She parted her legs, rolling her eyes back into her head as she approached orgasm.

The lights were way too bright. She wanted to cover her ears to stifle the loud music, but her hands were digging their nails into his shoulder. She grimaced, the sensation of vomiting rising up her neck. She swallowed hard, forcing it back down. Her lungs ached. She parted her legs as much as she possibly could, if only to drown out her migraine with sinful bliss.

"MMNNGHPH!" she bellowed, shrieking against rough parted lips, crying into cold, uncaring arms. The world faded around her. That familiar sense of abyss was engulfing her. She welcomed it, letting herself sink into its depths.

And yet, she could still hear the music. That horrible, horrible music...

* * *

It tasted so disgusting that she spat it out. Walking through the streets, Sakura scanned the empty street stalls vacantly. The wind rushed past in yet another unforgiving blast, blowing hair between her lips, which she began to chew absentmindedly. Again, that filthy flavor, which she found herself expelling as quickly as possible.

This late at night it was doubtful if she would be seen. A young woman walking the streets alone in the middle of the night, disheveled, baggy eyes and tousled hair, stumbling over her own feet for lack of appropriately sized pebbles. If she could, she would have shut off that loud, annoying music. Yet it did not recede. She had gotten herself lost, searching for that mysterious source which seemed to constantly elude her. Perhaps now would be a good time to stop and catch her breath, maybe get her bearings.

"Oh," Sakura murmured. "That house..."

She had walked all the way to an old, practically decrepit house. Except that this house, though uninhabited, had once belonged to a very close friend of hers. What was his name again? He was very annoying, and had a habit of always appearing when he wasn't wanted. He was a simpleton, never thinking, always doing. He was a class act, a hyperactive clown. And yet, she loved him. Or, she _had_ loved him. Over the weeks, love had become obsession, and obsession had become lust. There was no other motivation for it now. Nothing but pure, raw lust.

Lee Morgan's "_I'm a Fool to Want You_" continued to echo from the windows. She glared angrily through it. Leaping into the air, Sakura attempted to land in the sill, but fell short a few several feet. Instead, she landed clumsily on the ground, immediately springing up and falling into the wall. Steadying herself, she felt for the door, then the doorknob, and then turned it. It was, miraculously, open, but she paid no attention to this.

Now the sound was everywhere, maddeningly omnipresent from the kitchen, the hall, the closet door, the windows, the chairs. "Stop!" she yelled, and everything became quiet, except for Lee Morgan's trumpet sidling once more into the background. Hazy, nearly vomiting but holding it back, Sakura made her way into what she somehow knew was the bedroom. How she knew, she could not remember. But she knew, and that was the only important thing. This, however was empty. She stared blankly at the walls, blanking back in effervescent laughter.

"Stop it! Cut it out!" she cried, clutching at her head, trying to block out the voices and the laughter and the trumpet. The window—the wall. The window again. There was a low table with a plate of sashimi sitting in the corner. Kakashi Hatake shook his head. Rock Lee. Neji Hyuga, smiling sinisterly, extending a hand. Hinata Hyuga, blushing, withdrawing the hand. Naruto, walking away into the darkne—

"STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!! PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU!! PLEASE—JUST—STOP!!" Everything began to spin. Had she vomited yet? No, she thought, as her body wracked up into an excruciatingly painful position. Something was coming out of her mouth. Bile? Cries of lament?

Lee Morgan's trumpets fading into the distance, Naruto never looking back—

* * *

"GAH!" Sakura sat bolt upright, panting. Sweat rolled down her tear streaked face. The scent of alcohol and something unpleasant stimulated her olfactory. It was coming from within, not without. Her stomach growled, lurching uncomfortably, threatening to eject its contents.

Her vision sharpened as she caught her breath, and she examined her surroundings. She was lying in a rather firm bed, covered in a thick, smelly white bedsheet. Add that to her list of favorite odors: moth balls. For a very long time she remained still, just thinking about things. She had no idea where she was, or what had happened in the last few hours. She couldn't even say that her dream had been real. It had seemed so, well... _unreal_.

Could dreams be that vivid? Were there flights of fancy so deep that one could relieve the raw memory at will. She brought a hand to her chest where her heart ought to have been, but found instead that her shirt had been replaced with a plain white tank top. In fact, all of her armor was missing. She raised and eye, expecting to see it, perhaps in a corner of the room.

No such luck. She contented herself with the fact that she was, at the very least, clothed. She inhaled slowly, gathering herself as much as she could. Then, with a wide yawn, she lay slowly back in bed. Whoever would greet her when she finally chose to rise would have to wait. Anything to spare her the shame for just a few minutes more. Anything...

She jammed her eyes shut as the door opened with a loud creak. Soft steps traced around the length of her bed. She heard something clank to the ground, and then something ruffling, as though being fiddled with. And then, in the least unexpected way, she felt herself touched, actually caressed, along her cheek.

"WHO—?!" Raising her fist to strike, Sakura glared Rock Lee straight in the face. He caught her first reflexively, shooting a look of incredulity towards her. The daggers faded from her eyes, and with a slight blush, Sakura lowered her arm. Lee rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.

"I thought you were still asleep, Sakura-chan," he said, smiling sheepishly. She nodded slowly, trying not to seem embarrassed. "If I had known you were awake I would have not—err, would have brought you breakfast. It's almost done, actually," he added quickly. And before Sakura could utter another word he was out the door.

So the dream had been real after all. Every last bit of her vision had been beyond that. She closed her eyes again and sighed. Dream or not, it was unlikely that she would emerge from this... this... what was this...? Her eyelids became very heavy, and she fell back into her bed.

"Wait," she tried to murmur, but the words would not come out. Once more, darkness overtook her. She cried out a name. What was it again? She just couldn't remember.

* * *

"Oh... C-Coming!" Lee cupped his mouth to channel the sound. Shutting off the stove, he made his way to the front door, wiping his wet hands on his apron. When he opened the door, Naruto took a moment to gape before straightening himself out.

"Well, like you said," he started, clearing his throat. "Nine in the morning. Hope you're ready then, err... Lee..." It seemed, by his expression, that he could not get over the image of Lee in his outdoor gear, dressed down in a tattered blue apron. But Lee seemed to be focused on other things aside from his attire. With a nervous glance over his shoulder he murmured, "About that, you see...

"Well, I do wish to train with you and Kiba-kun but something has come up, and well... It would seem that I am unable to participate in today's activities. I apologize most deeply for any inconvenience I may have caused you."

Naruto blinked. It was unlike Lee to suddenly cancel appointments he had made himself, especially over training sessions. But it was without question that the man deserved a break. There was an especially appetizing smell wafting from the hall, besides. Naruto was quite famished, and Kiba would not be at the training grounds for another hour or two; something to do his dog, Akamaru.

"Well, I guess it's alright," he replied, grinning. "Hey, before I go, d'you think you could spare a bite to eat?" he asked hopefully.

This seemed to alarm Lee who, jumping, shook his head frantically. "I'm very sorry, Naruto-kun. It is not that I would not like to feed you, or that I am feeling particularly greedy, but given present circumstances—"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto grunted somewhat dishearteningly, followed by the usual smile. "Well, I'll see you around then, Lee." He waved and walked off, contemplating aloud whether or not to eat at Ichiraku or pay Hinata a visit with his free hour. Lee was hardly paying attention. He closed the door quite loudly and returned to the boiling pot, which had somehow begun frothing. He did not see Sakura peering out from the bedroom door.

"So," she whispered to herself. "He's going to see Hinata, is he...?" The sensation of vomiting vanished entirely, replaced with the dreadful sensation of having everything sucked into a tiny little point of oblivion. She looked up at Lee, who was singing a merry little tune that, oddly enough, sounded atrocious.


	2. Negotiating

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warning**: The following may contain material that some viewers may not find suitable.

* * *

_Revelation Two...  
Negotiating..._

* * *

Lunch had been a rather awkward affair. Of course, Sakura could not say she knew Lee all that well, and it wasn't his fault that she had never tried before. But if Lee would just take a hint and give her some alone time, he would be that much less at fault. And polite as he was, Lee somehow managed to do everything that pushed all the wrong buttons in her. At that point, blaming Lee suddenly seemed like the right thing to do. She restrained herself, however, in light of his hospitality, and put up with his near constant henpecking at her health.

Then of course, there was the fact that he had not mentioned to her anything of the events of the previous night, which she would be eternally grateful for. When the time was right, she would settle those matters herself.

She had to admit, Lee was a darn good cook. Okay, so it wasn't a five star three course meal, which she wouldn't have been able to finish anyway, but even this plain soup felt quite good in her stomach. Or maybe it was because she could still taste the bile.

Sakura set her spoon down with a soft "clink". She lowered her bowl to her lap and smiled warmly, handing it to Lee when he reached to take it from her. He scratched his chin bemusedly and left the room again. Sakura heard the pipes shake as water rushed through them. She sighed and lay back in her bed, letting the abyss engulf her yet again.

Peace and quiet... Solitude and silence... Time to think and to prepare...

What had happened the night before was of no relevance to what would happen now. She had been drunk, and that was all. _No_, that wasn't the way to go about this at all! Of course last night was important! There had to be away out of this. Lee wasn't one to be boastful about such things, but that wasn't her issue. How would she go about undoing the damage she had done without breaking him? She couldn't possibly just go and tell it to his face. A man that sensitive?

Wait... no, that wouldn't be giving him enough credit. He _was_ a man. Given what he'd been through, perhaps more of a man than Sasuke had been. "Sasuke", she murmured, opening her eyes again. Seeing his face burned into her eyelids made Sakura more uncomfortable than she could bear. And now she was using him as a comparison. Fine, it helped Lee's standing on this a little bit, but she didn't appreciate it.

And then there was the question of how she would break it to Lee. That was where the conundrum lay. Just how sensitive was he? She should have gotten to know him better while she had still had the chance. It couldn't possibly be that bad now, could it? _Could it?_ She didn't know. For that, she'd have to get to know Lee, but getting to know Lee was the last thing on her mind right now.

The sound of a door closing broke her concentration. The wispy trail of though blew away into little curls, a nothing of what they had once been. Sakura looked up with a start, surprised at how utterly soundless it was from the walls. Even if Lee was keeping quiet, she would still feel the minute vibrations. Did he leave? She stood up to check.

Unfortunately, the door squeaked. She bit her tongue and opened as quickly as she could, stubbing her toe in the process. Lee, however, was nowhere to be seen. He had a very small house, she noticed, much smaller than Naruto's. The living room, kitchen, and dining room all seemed to be fused together. As there was only one other room which house the bathroom, she surmised that she had been sleeping in Lee's bed. Proof of suspicion: There were body shaped impression on the gnarled up couch.

Still it was much cleaner than Naruto's old home had ever been. Somehow it looked exactly as she had expected it to, albeit just a little too small for her personal comfort. There was a note on the divider with her name scribbled on it. She picked it off and read it several times.

_I have washed and prepared your clothing. You may use my shower to wash yourself. Also, there is more soup if you are still hungry._

_The nerve_, she thought, smiling weakly. He expected her to leave, likely without eating. Her state of hygiene, however, was intolerable. Even in these clean clothes she could tell that she wreaked of alcohol and god knew what else aside. With a resentful grimace, she crumpled the note and tossed it into a nearby trash can, stepping in through the door curtain and reaching for the handle.

And of course, there was a towel and new bottle of conditioner awaiting her. "He knows my shampoo brand," she snorted, laughing aloud.

* * *

"What does it have to do with me?" Tenten stared blankly. Lee shook his head disapprovingly. "You are the one who asked me what was wrong," he reminded her. She shrugged, twisting around another of Lee's punches and catching his fist between her arm and rib.

"_Lazy_," she muttered, anchoring herself against it to kick his head, which was no longer there. Using her airborne foot as another anchor, she released Lee's wrist and swung her other foot around, striking his shoulder as he poised to strike again.

"You really don't get it, do you?" continued. "You don't tell your ex-lover about every little problem. If you lost your nerve and had your way with Sakura, well, good for you. Grin and bear it, don't wallow in self-despair."

Lee grunted, taking the force of the blow and spinning Tenten in the opposite direction. "And again," he replied, "you are the one who asked me what was wrong." He swung his right leg up around and down in an axe motion. Tenten caught his leg, using it to catapult her to Lee's back. Still holding fast to his ankle, she flayed out her legs like a whiplash, aiming dead for the head.

A fraction of a second earlier than she had anticipated, he rolled it back, sparing it the blow and cushioning himself between her generous thighs. She squeezed tightly, dragging him to the ground. "So you were automatically obligated to tell me the truth?"

Lee gagged for air. She had an enormously powerful hold over his neck. With great effort, he wrenched his ankle out of her grasp and slammed hard into the ground, shaking it enough to knock their adjoined bodies a few inches into the air. He spun as hard as he could. Tenten released before he could do anything, kicking off against a tree and slamming hard into his body.

"Would you have let it alone otherwise?!" he gasped, squirming against the tree while his sparring partner held him in a contorted position. She paused.

The wind blew through her hair, blowing the scent of sweat and earth to his nostrils. It was euphoric. "It was something like this, wasn't it," she mused. "Yes, it was exactly like this only... you got me and I..." She blushed slightly. Then she grinned, disarming him. "Fair enough, she whispered, kissing his nose. Simultaneously she brought her knee to his gut, striking him with such force that the tree he had backed against actually snapped.

"Predictable. You're so easy to manipulate, Lee." Tenten smiled, striding away and looking very bored. "Oh, and if you're going to go after Sakura," she added, "Then I'd go and talk to Hinata."

"Hinata?" Lee looked up, unsure what this meant. "But what does she—"

"—You forget that you're the one who asked for my advice. You don't have to, if you really don't want to get Sakura's attention, but don't say I didn't warn you..."

He stood up, clutching his stomach and wincing. "That woman," he muttered, panting. "That woman may well be the death of me."


	3. Societal Propriety

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warning**: The following may contain material that some viewers may not find suitable.

* * *

_Revelation Three...  
Societal Propriety..._

* * *

The restaurant was quiet but for Choji Akimichi's monstrous chewing. Ino Yamanaka dozed demurely in the corner. Her long bangs now obstructed both eyes so that the expression on her face was unreadable. With an soft grunt she rolled her head to the other side, mumbling indistinctly. Choji looked up at her for a moment, shrugged, and pushed his bowl aside. He yawned and leaned back in his seat, nodding at a cook who looked at him expectantly.

He would let her sleep, at the very least. They had another hour and a half before Shikamaru would come to pick them up for training, and the recent days had been hard on all three of them. He groaned and let his head roll back. It felt a little sad to know that his appetite had started to die down a little bit. He still felt hungry, granted, but there was that sensation that it was taking him less and less to sate his hunger. The pleasures of food and drink, in their most innocent senses, had been of great comfort to Choji in his childhood.

But he had other things. Shikamaru, for one, would always be there for him if he needed. As much as solitude helped him get away from it all, sometimes the thing one needed most was a good conversation partner, throw in a bag of chips.

And then there was Ino who, over the course of their careers, had come to accept him more than she had at the dawn of their lives as full time shinobi. The snide remarks had now stopped altogether. For some reason he missed those. Not from other people, but from Ino herself. He didn't know, it was just something that seemed too normal.

Besides, he wasn't _that_ fat anymore. It was more muscle now, and he had a reason to go on about being big boned. Although training made him hungry, it also made him eat less. That tight, fit in your stomach feel he had after a hard day's sweat meant less capacity for substance. Even his father had been a little surprised at this change in physique. Not like when he had been in the academy.

Ino twitched and snorted, muttering indistinctly and tilting her head. She sat up, massaging her temples and blowing the hair from her face, then looked around with her clear green eyes, spotted Choji, and yawned. "Done already?" she asked, jowls aquiver. He nodded and placed some money beneath his empty bowl. Ino stood up and wiped her eyes open. "What time is it anyway?"

She looked towards the clock at the far end of cafeteria while Choji made for the exit. It would be a whole hour before they would meet up with Shikamaru Nara, their team's de facto leader and superior officer in field situations. She licked the moisture back into her lips, which had gone dry, and followed Choji out.

"Oh, Sakura..."

The young, pink-headed girl snapped out of her dazed state and looked up at her stupidly. Ino suppressed a giggle and conked Sakura on the head, saying, "Keep wandering around like that and you might bump into trouble."

Sakura, who quickly recovered her senses, laughed nervously and shrugged. "W-well, what else could I possibly run into that could be worse?"

Choji poked his head out from a nearby building and spied Ino. He shrugged, waved with a casual flick of his hand, and walked off to leave Ino to her personal matters. Sakura looked over her shoulder, having noticed her friend's momentary distraction. "Anyway," Ino broke in, smiling. "You don't usually hang around here. You meeting someone for lunch?"

"Oh, no, I just—"

"—wanted to do some _boy hunting_ again?" Ino leaned forward and waggled her eyebrows playfully. To her dismay, Sakura did not blush, stammer, or act immediately flustered in any way. On the contrary, she seemed to stop to consider it, as though it were a very good idea. "Anyway," Ino murmured quickly, looking around for any sign of noticeable people, before whispering in Sakura's ear, "If there's anything bothering you, just let me know."

That set it off. Immediately Sakura shook her head. "No! It's alright," she insisted, grinning as forcefully as humanly possible. Ino frowned on the inside, but shrugged. "All right then... Well, I'll be seeing you," she finished with a lighthearted wave. Throwing one last backward glance, Ino walked after Choji and disappeared from sight.

Sakura yawned. "Maybe I'll go to Ichiraku or something... He's probably eaten by now... I can talk to Ayame."

* * *

_Damn!_ Naruto's scent was practically everywhere. His shadow clones were getting to be very annoying. Too many and it was impossible to take out the real one. Too few, and they were too strong to collapse in one hit. And their levels of chakra continued to fluctuate, as though taunting him. Just when he thought he'd located the real one, it one shift its chakra as though to say "Wrong again!". He snarled, leaping up into the air as one of them moved to fire a shuriken.

"Damn!" he said aloud.

He already had his foot in Naruto's chest, just as Naruto leapt out from the trees slinging Naruto forward. Using the first clone as a base, he cut into the second and knocked it into the third. All three disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Simultaneously, every chakra level rose slightly. One rose higher than the others. "There!" Kiba barked, hurling a star at his selected target. And then suddenly, it disappeared. "W-what?!" he cried. _NO!!_

But it was too late. The real Naruto Uzumaki appeared from below. Every clone leaped out from its respective hiding places, poised to strike. Kiba raised his arms defensively. But before they struck him, Naruto recalled every last one of them, spawning one right above him and kicking it high into the air. This clone spawned another, which kicked Kiba down to the ground.

"KEN—!" it roared.

Naruto leapt at Kiba, who was completely stunned, and punched him in the back, knocking him towards the second clone. "DAN—!" He continued. His clone made a dual axe kick, knocking him back towards the ground where Naruto and his third clone were waiting.

"SU—!"

And with an almighty cry they screamed, "SWORD DANCE! PANTHER BARRAGE!" A knee to the chest, a kick to the back, and a fist to the gut. With a piercing howl, Kiba fell to the ground, defeated. The clones vanished, and Naruto made his way to Kiba's landing point.

"You all right? I went easy on you back there, y'know."

"Yeah... ungh! I... I know..." Kiba stood up, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "You know any medical jutsu?" Naruto nodded uneasily. "Just a little. I should be able to stop the bleeding a bit, but I won't do anything more in case I screw up," he explained. And Naruto summoned a little chakra from three of his fingers, directing it into the wound.

"GAH! Dammit, Naruto! I thought you said you were gonna _stop_ the bleeding!"

"B-but I did! Look!"

"I know, but it HUUUUUUURTS!!"

After several minutes of heated shouting, Kiba had finally recovered enough to walk back towards the village.

"Ah, man," he griped, cracking his neck. "You weren't kidding. A three-way crusher pinch with inertia for extra spice. That could easily have killed me." Naruto grinned nervously.

"Yeah, well, you're still here aren't ya?"

They high-fived one another, Kiba laughing confidently. "Ain't gonna get rid 'o me that easily, Naruto! Gonna take more than some fancy pants move to take me down. Where'd you get the name for that, by the way? It sucks."

"A kung fu movie," Naruto admitted sheepishly. "Pervy sage had me watching a lot of those. Said they were good basis for taijutsu."

"Oh, you been learnin' taijutsu, huh?" He tried to sound uninterested, though it was well known that he had always been interested in the prospect. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Ahhhhh, dammit, I'm hungry. You eating lunch when we get back?" he eyed Naruto hopefully.

"Dunno, I guess so," Naruto replied. "If you want to eat we could go to Ichiraku."

"You know Ayame doesn't like me!"

"What?! No, I didn't! R-really?!"

"I forgot! You weren't around, then, were you?"

And they began to reminisce over what Naruto had missed in his absence.


	4. Repercussions

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warning**: The following may contain material that some viewers may not find suitable.

* * *

_Revelation Four...  
Repercussions..._

* * *

Naruto spotted her before Kiba even sensed her presence. He abruptly paused in stride and made to move in the opposite direction. Having no idea what was going on, Kiba turned around and raised an eyebrow, one tight grip already upon Naruto's arm. "Hey, what's up?" he asked. Naruto attempted to jerk his hand away. Kiba gripped harder.

Swallowing, the orange clad ninja scratched the back of his head. "S-something just came up..."

Staring with such intense incredulity that Naruto felt ashamed of himself, Kiba shook him. "What?!"

He didn't see Sakura frozen in place several yards behind him. Her eyes were livid. She seemed to be shaking, although she refused to move from where her feet had been planted. "Hey, Naruto! I'm talkin' to you!" Kiba yelled.

With an angry growl, Naruto tore himself out of Kiba's hold and leaped high away into the crowd. There was an angry shout, and the sound of something crashing. Kiba could not believe his eyes. "What the hell...?"

It wasn't like Naruto to suddenly skip out on lunch. In fact, the normal Uzumaki child wouldn't refuse any kind of food at all, so long as it was humanly edible. For him to ditch out on lunch, especially after a good, hard training session, was so unlikely that it was more probable for Hinata to confess her feelings to Naruto. Hell, he might even credit Naruto on returning the gesture over abandoning his own stomach. And besides, he had promised to pay for them both.

Muttering disappointedly, Kiba turned to go to Ichiraku on his own, just in time to see Sakura's pink head slip out of sight beneath the curtains.

"Shampoo girl... Maybe she'll know what's up. She's practically his wife..."

Dodging a gaggle of little girls, Kiba made his way to the shop entrance. He was about to duck beneath the sign flag when he heard something that made him stop dead.

"—and she's been avoiding me like Naruto has! I don't know—"

"...what...?" If Kiba were actually a dog, his ears would reach higher than an outstretched arm.

* * *

Ayame made to hug Sakura, who stepped back suddenly and shook her head. But the tears continued to flow. Ayame was at a loss for words. She didn't know Sakura as well as she did Naruto, but she certainly seemed upset. If Naruto was shunning her, there had to be something going on. But she didn't know just how far her influence might go over the boy, and she didn't want to upset him either.

Tuechi, her father, had just now emerged from the back. He gave Sakura and long and hard look, nodding to Ayame. He held the back door open for them both, closing it behind them and sighing. "Girl problems are so hard to solve... And I though Sakura-chan knew about the Hyuga girl. Hmm?" He had just spotted someone hanging at the edge of the outside wall. "You there," he beckoned, "Do you need any—"

With a gasp, the stranger had run away. Tuechi scratched the back of his head. "Boy, oh, boy. If it's not one thing, it's another." He cringed as Sakura broke into a fresh wave of loud sobs behind him. "Dammit, this is so bad for business," he murmured, glancing at two women whispering to each other and pointing at his shop.

* * *

If words could express the roaring in his chest, he probably wouldn't feel so bad. From somewhere within, a great beast, a dog, had reared its monstrous head. He could almost visualize the hatred in its eyes, and feel the drool dribbling down its great big maw.

"Hinata..." he uttered breathlessly. He stopped running. He had been for a very long time now. No longer could his ears pick up the sound of civilization, and even his nose was overpowered by the scent of nature. But stronger than that, he could smell Hinata Hyuga, his teammate, and realized that he was standing at her favorite training spot.

"DAMMIT!" he bellowed. "WHY?! HOW?!"

Everything hurt all over. He felt as though he had been betrayed. Kiba had been stabbed in a very sensitive spot; one which he had never realized was so vulnerable. He didn't know what sort of feelings he harbored for Hinata, but thinking of her with Naruto made everything burn. Regardless of context, he was angry.

* * *

"But... why...? I always thought that you and Naruto... W-well, it just seemed so unlikely. I know he cared for you, but I didn't think he liked you in that sense."

Sakura had recovered herself enough to hold a rational conversation. Yet, every time someone mentioned Naruto's name, she cringed as though she had just been struck with some nasty object. Ayame quickly made a mental note to refer to Naruto as little and as subtly as possible from that point onward. Sakura was beginning to sob again, so she went on.

"Look, you can just let yourself slip away because of one boy. I'm sure if you give him time, he'll come around to talking to you again."

"You saw him with Tuechi, didn't you? I overheard him talking to himself. He said that... that _Naruto_ actually brought her here. He treated _Hinata_ to lunch _here_, at Ichiraku!"

"But I don't understand. Why are you having such a hard time dealing with it? He's not chasing after you anymore, and I thought you didn't like his advances. Sakura? Sakura, no... y-you don't—I mean—y-you can't possibly be saying that you..."

Sakura nodded grimly, avoiding Ayame's gaze. There was a long silence, during which Tuechi poked his head in the hopes that the crying had stopped. When he saw Sakura splayed over the bed, still trying to rub her eyes dry, he groaned and vanished again.

"If you feel that way about him, then why don't you tell him?" Ayame's mind tried and failed to grasp the subject. The way she saw it, Naruto had started dating another girl, and Sakura had become jealous, or...

And then she understood it. "You were too late, weren't you...?" she said quietly. As she feared, Sakura seemed to have suddenly gagged on her own tongue. A sense of familiarity arose within her. She knew how that felt. Sakura seemed to pick up on the sensation.

"How did you get through it...?" she asked tentatively, afraid she might trip a wire. But Ayame smiled weakly.

"I didn't..." she said simply. "I just moved in another direction, away from him."

But the idea was clearly a no-go for Sakura, whose face became haggard and worn. She quickly shook her head, quietly drawing back the runnings from her nose. Ayame pulled out some tissues for her, and she blew into them vigorously.

"Was it hard?" she asked, once she had gotten over the shock. Ayame shrugged and turned towards the window. For a long time neither said anything, although Tuechi didn't nose in again. And then, stroking Sakura's head, Ayame sniffled and swallowed it down.

"It's funny, how these things work out..."

Sakura tilted her head, still crying, but no longer hiccuping.

"You meet the guy, get to know him, find out he's not so bad... Maybe a little hardheaded, but just so... likeable..."

Sakura nodded.

"...and that's what gets you. No matter what he does, and no matter how many times he pushes your buttons, you just like him..."

Naruto was the same way, Sakura realized.

"But when you realize that you might like him in a way that's different from other people, well... it's weird, right? Like you never saw it coming; like he did it on purpose. And that's when you find out he likes someone else in the same way you like him..."

_So true_, Sakura agreed wholeheartedly. It was exactly like her own story. She looked at Ayame, who let out a tiny whimper. But she shook her head, dispelling the emotion. And then, breathlessly she murmured, "I guess he got you too, eh, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked. Ayame was staringly melancholically at the washroom in the corner. Following her eyes, Sakura looked over the mirror on the wall. There were several pictures there, most of them with Ayame and Tuechi included. But only one of them had distortions that looked like tear marks. Naruto in his younger years, grinning happily as he ate a bowl of ramen... His eyes were streaming from the searing heat, and the camera was positioned at an odd angle. Sakura's heart beat hard and fast.

"I know," Ayame mumbled. "He was so much younger than me, but I... I guess I fell in love with him. He's so much more attractive now that he's come back, and... well. Back then it was a little more sisterly, but there's no denying how I thought of him when he wasn't around..." She wiped a tear, hugging Sakura close. "But he loved you, at one point..."

Something about the way she said that made Sakura grimace. She felt like vomiting. It was a sensation that she had experienced before. The bitterness in Ayame's words stung deep. She felt both sorry and spiteful towards Sakura, though the goodness within her did care. Sakura nodded sadly, pulling away. With a guilty little smile she made her way for the back door. "Yeah," she replied wistfully, "At one point..."


	5. The Price of Sin

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warning**: The following may contain material that some viewers may not find suitable.

* * *

_Revelation Five...  
The Price of Sin..._

* * *

Lee yawned. It was getting quite late. He looked down at his hands, which had been halfway through a formation before he had stopped suddenly. The insides of his head hurt too much to continue. It wasn't that he wouldn't finish the hand sign, but that he couldn't. Something within told him he had pushed the limit far enough. But he could feel than ninjutsu manifesting. It was there, in his body, trying to get out.

Even though he knew it wouldn't work, since he had broken his concentration, he finished the pattern anyway and collapsed to the ground, sweaty and exhausted. For a long time his mind remained blank. He was too tired to raise the chalk stick and write on the board, and so he thought of nothing. Attempting to perform ninjutsu at this stage in his career was damn near impossible, but he would get there. He didn't plan on using it on missions, which would contradict his life goal, but he was training to do so just to prove that he could. And especially now, losing all ability to think proved valuable.

"Damn..." he murmured. He was _thinking_ again. It was a sign that his mind was adjusting the rigors of mental discipline, but all the same he wished he could work himself so hard that he might pass out into a dreamless slumber. Sakura had never left his mind since the previous night...

The images flew through his mind like a slide show. Every single millisecond of last night's encounter replayed in his head, over and over. It was gratifying somehow, but hurt too much to do as a habit, which his mind did nonetheless. Since last night he had felt so insecure. Oh, there were definitely benefits to be gleaned from such a practice, but that was so dishonorable. But what did he even know about relationships anyway? Which put the real question in that much more doubt.

And that smell...

It was vile and disgusting, but it had turned him on so much. The experience hadn't been pleasant, but the memory of it was so alluring. A part of him wished he'd stayed home all day to care for her, but he knew that would have been an invitation for trouble. Was he to stoop so low as to resort to mind games?

Yes, there was that. He had almost forgotten about it. The way her eyes searched madly through his while he held her, and how badly she seemed to want to say the one thing that was on her mind. Mind games indeed, torture to be honest.

But it had made her so happy. How could something like that be a bad thing? He didn't know what she really wanted, but maybe he could take advantage of the situation while it played to his desires. That wasn't dishonorable, was it? One often took advantage of openings out on the battlefield, and he was familiar with the saying "All is fair in love and war".

Except, that wasn't necessarily true. He was also a man of morals, and such logic as previously stated worked only for cowards and realists, neither of which did he fall into as a classification.

Why did he have to be capable of articulating these complicated thoughts?

* * *

The stars were exceptionally bright tonight. It was odd how many people there were out this late at night. Sakura looked back at the bright lights of the large building behind her, read its sign which bore the word "Happiness", and strained her ears for the sounds of drunken laughter. But something was amiss. She licked her lips and realized what it was.

"Shit... not again... not now..." She had the instinctive urge to cover her ears, but sensed immediately that it would not help. Lee Morgan's trumped could be heard far off in the distance from all directions. Sakura fought off the desire to search for the noise too. All she could do was run away, but she feared that if she ran it might grow louder to compensate for the buzzing in her ears.

So she began to walk. Very slowly at first, but then quickly as the music grew louder. It wasn't going away, and now she could catch the riffs of the drums as they echoed off of the stage. There were the cheers, the jeers, the sparkling eyes warm with alcohol. There was Sakura, watching the whole concerto.

_Go away! Go away! Please, just go away!_ Sakura was practically jogging now. A few people stared at her. She probably looked as though she'd gone out of her mind. Her mouth was moving but no words would come out. The music grew ever louder. Faster she ran.

The city lights disappeared. Only a few people were around, and none of them paid any attention at all. And then it was just her in the forest. She had to keep herself sane. She would not lose control again. It would go away if she ignored it, but she couldn't ignore it, so it would keep getting louder. And then, without any warning at all, a trumpet blasted in her ear.

"NO! I WON'T! LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Sakura yelled, breaking into a full run, the tears streaming out of her eyes. A long, mournful note filled the air. The birds dispersed from their branches. Suddenly, Sakura found herself falling...

Her eyes glazed over in understanding. She watched as Lee realized she was above him, observed as he leapt up into the air to catch her. Her throat hurt from screaming, but she had no recollection of ever making any noise at all. And then they were on the ground. Lee wasn't looking at her. He sighed. She sat up slowly to stroke his cheek.

"I see that you are not drunk tonight..." he commented sotly. Sakura nodded, looking down into his neck, burying her nose into it.

"But still crazy, anyway."

"All women are crazy," Lee shot back.

Sakura blinked. "Do you have a problem with that, then?"

_He didn't say anything for a while. Sakura exhaled slowly, reaching into his arms and kissing him. He returned the gesture somewhat half-heartedly. His body was rough and callused from years of training, and his lips were dry and hard like rocks. But his tongue was soft and gentle, very firm and forceful, but quite pleasurable. Involuntarily he caressed her breasts, and she groaned._

_Oh, he was good. Somehow he knew every little spot that made her jerk around in delight. She wanted him to bite her, consume her, and feed her. And then he did that thing he did with his thumb, using the roughest point of the skin to scrape against the highest point of her erected nipple. She gasped and groaned, biting his lips to relieve the tension._

_In the heat of the moment, Lee reached down between her legs and stroked the little folds. He palmed the warm lump and pressed against it and felt how it pulsed with such a liveliness. Sakura rubbed her leg against his torso._ But there was nothing there.

Sakura opened her eyes and found Lee staring at her. She swallowed the saliva that ran down her throat and pulled away. "Lee, what's wrong?" she asked.

He kissed her again, roughly, coldly. "What does that do to you?" he retorted. He seemed angry with himself.

Truthfully it had no effect. He tried again, this time with a little effort, but the sensation wouldn't come anymore. Sakura backed away completely, eyes dead set on the ground. "So, you want more than that...?"

Lee shook his head. "Not like this, Sakura-chan... Not like this..."

"Then how?" she pleaded. She wanted an outlet, a cushion. "How can we benefit from each other? Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

"Perhaps..." he muttered. "No, actually, I do not think so. In another world, or another time I might accept your generous offer. I will not deny that I certainly have hoped for some sign of attachment from you. But this is just not right, Sakura-chan. I never wanted your body, Sakura. It is a beautiful thing, I will certainly say that. But the body will wither and die, and the heart may shift its attentions elsewhere. When you finally decide what it is that you desire, will I have anything? I do not know, and I do not intend to take that risk. So... Not like this, Sakura."

There was a long silence after that, in which Lee kissed Sakura again. It wasn't deep, but suddenly she felt that strange little tingle, and looked up quickly at him. He shrugged, wiping a tear from her eye.

"If things do not work out, Sakura, there are always other options. I am sure you will figure out a way to get where you have to be, and I do not doubt for a second that that special person will be there waiting for you to arrive. So, whenever you are in need of a place to rest your head, or perhaps an ear to hear your problems, or a mouth to guide you, I will be there for you, Sakura."

She whined weakly and smiled, pursing her lips to keep from bawling. "When... W-when did you s-stop... c-c-calling me S-Sakura-chan...?" She asked, trying to keep her head together. Lee chuckled and turned around, hiding the expression of pain on his face.

"When I confessed my undying love for you, Sakura..."

And he walked away into the night.

"Uhugh...! Uggggha... Nngmm...!" The air became filled with Sakura Haruno's contorted gasps of pain. A dry leaf fell into the lake. "UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHAAAA!! RRRAAAAAAAAAH!!"


End file.
